Marc Weidenbaum's Blog, page 418
July 4, 2014
Vocal Confection
Layers of vocal elements combine to form “As We Fall,” some of them hazy and textural, while others feature a restrained but formidable coloratura one might listen for in opera. The track, just over five minutes in length, moves through several phases, in a suite-like fashion, each punctuated with occasional pneumatic beats, chimes, and other percussive elements.
The track is by Lanx, who is based in Brooklyn, and who I believe is Christine Papania of the ensemble Pantree Owl.
Bonus: There’s video of a vocal track-in-progress on vine.co:
Track originally posted for free download at soundcloud.com/lanx-music. More from Lanx at twitter.com/__Lanx. More from Pantree Owl at pantreeowl.bandcamp.com.
SOUND RESEARCH LOG: Pharmaceuticals Are Technologies Are Pharmaceuticals
Kind of fascinating that the manufacturer of an over-the-counter sleep aid might create brand extensions that include white noise machines:
Procter & Gamble Co. Chief Financial Officer Jon Moeller piqued curiosity when he told an investor conference last month that the company was preparing to enter a new category in the next six months and “introduce a new and far superior method of addressing a chronic consumer issue.”
Based on the company’s trademark filings, a strong candidate, at least for the latter, appears to be a line of products that make it easier to sleep.
Several of its recent trademark filings relate to an expansion of the ZzzQuil brand the company launched in 2012 into what would be a range of new sleep-aid products. Among the categories P&G filed to cover with the ZzzQuil and ZzzPads name in February are “electronic sound generators for producing ambient sounds for promoting sleep,” light-therapy units and aromatherapy pads specially adapted for creating scents for electric vaporizers, electric fans, air purifiers and humidifiers.
Via Zack Neff at adage.com.
This entry cross-posted from the Disquiet linkblog project sound.tumblr.com.
SOUND RESEARCH LOG: Smartwatches Are Always Listening, LG G
The above image is from the initial promotional material for the Android-powered LG G Watch. It is showing support for “Ok Google,” which listens for that phrase as a prompt. Of course, in order to do that, the watch has to be always listening. As useful as the concierge-ish search is, of all gadgets a watch needn’t have to listen — you could just, you know, hit a button. Also from the promotional language: “It doesn’t just listen well, it communicates with you well: straight answers to spoken questions.” The initial specs don’t seem to note the inclusion of a microphone.
This entry cross-posted from the Disquiet linkblog project sound.tumblr.com.
SOUND RESEARCH LOG: Music Wars, Mobile Plan Divison
“Mobile and music united at once.” That’s how Rok Mobile, which launched today in VIP/invite-only mode, is describing its phone plan, which adds a “music” category to the core talk/text/data plans. According to gigaom.com‘s Kevin Fitchard, Rok is likely reselling plans on Sprint and/or T-Mobile. More at rokmobile.com.
This entry cross-posted from the Disquiet linkblog project sound.tumblr.com.
July 3, 2014
Disquiet Junto Project 0131: The Key of Tea
Each Thursday at the Disquiet Junto group on SoundCloud.com a new compositional challenge is set before the group’s members, who then have just over four days to upload a track in response to the assignment. Membership in the Junto is open: just join and participate.
This project was published in the evening, California time, on Thursday, July 3, with 11:59pm on the following Monday, July 7, 2014, as the deadline.
These are the instructions that went out to the group’s email list (sign up at tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto):
Disquiet Junto Project 0131: Kettle Development
These are the steps for this week’s project:
Step 1: Record the sound of a tea kettle coming to a boil, preferably a tea kettle that whistles when the boil is achieved.
Step 2: Create a piece of music that originates from the sound of that tea kettle reaching its climax. Employ the sound of the tea kettle in an original composition that can be heard to extend from the field recording of the kettle itself. Start your piece with between five and ten seconds of the unaltered kettle sound.
Step 3: Upload the track to the Disquiet Junto group on SoundCloud, following the directions below.
Deadline: Monday, June 30, 2014, at 11:59pm wherever you are.
Length: The length of your finished work will be between one and two minutes.
Information: Please when posting your track on SoundCloud, include a description of your process in planning, composing, and recording it. This description is an essential element of the communicative process inherent in the Disquiet Junto.
Title/Tag: When adding your track to the Disquiet Junto group on Soundcloud.com, please include the term “disquiet0131-thekeyoftea″ in the title of your track, and as a tag for your track.
Download: It is preferable that your track is set as downloadable, and that it allows for attributed remixing (i.e., a Creative Commons license permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution).
Linking: When posting the track, please be sure to include this information:
More on this 131st Disquiet Junto project — “Create a composition that naturally extends from the whistle of a tea kettle.” — at:
http://disquiet.com/2014/07/03/disqui...
More on the Disquiet Junto at:
Join the Disquiet Junto at:
http://soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet...
Disquiet Junto general discussion takes place at:
Photo associated with this track by Shardayyy via Creative Commons license:
SOUND RESEARCH LOG: Noise Pollution, the Hum Edition
At mic.com, Jared Keller dives deep into “the hum” — the Hum:
“The Hum” refers to a mysterious sound heard in places around the world by a small fraction of a local population. It’s characterized by a persistent and invasive low-frequency rumbling or droning noise often accompanied by vibrations. While reports of “unidentified humming sounds” pop up in scientific literature dating back to the 1830s, modern manifestations of the contemporary hum have been widely reported by national media in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia since the early 1970s.
Here’s an “alleged recording of the Auckland Hum”:
The above map is from the World Hum Map and Database. More on the database at thehum.info.
This entry cross-posted from the Disquiet linkblog project sound.tumblr.com.
SOUND RESEARCH LOG: Architecture of Sound (Italian Dance Floor Edition)
“Balere” is the Italian term for a popular public dance floor. These spaces are the subject of a photo essay by Gian Luca Perrone, just published at domusweb.it. His interiors, devoid of people, have a Gursky-esque breadth, and Kubrick-quality ornate blankness.
From a brief essay accompanying the Domus photos:
They are part of the lives, past and present, of a certain number of Italians who have driven local decisions and growth. This work prompts critical reflection on social change in Italy, where leisure-time preferences and habits also have life cycles. These are places where the ephemeral has dialogued with all ranks of society – from blue-collar workers to entrepreneurs and the middle classes – with no ghettos; on the contrary, they have encouraged entire regions and provinces (from Emilia Romagna to the northern Marche, Tuscany, Liguria and Veneto) to socialise. This has made them the glitzy shrines of an aesthetic and a social growth where the dance ritual broke the weekly work routine.
The photos are currently on display, through September 10, at Galleria Gallerati galleriagallerati.it in Rome; curator: Camilla Boemio camillaboemio.com.
SOUND RESEARCH LOG: Music Wars, Discovery Versus Inactive Listening
Over at venturebeat.com, Dwayne De Freitas weighs in on the purchase of Songza by Google. As De Freitas notes, the purchase comes at a time when “digital music sales volume is declining.” Songza, he argues, provides a “hassle”-free listening experience, with none of the effort required with other services. Ultimately, that’s arguably more about music as background listening than music “discovery,” which always seems to suggest more active listening.
“The key here is that when it comes to listening, users can set it and forget it. While services like Spotify and Rdio give users incredibly tailored experiences with access to hot indie tracks and an inexhaustible supply of songs to choose from, services like Beats and Songza are simpler — allowing the user access to the same or similar music with none of the set-up hassle associated with creating the playlist themselves. At the same time, users gain more control over what they’re listening to than they would with Pandora’s Music Genome algorithm.”
July 2, 2014
SOUND RESEARCH LOG: Music Wars, Shock and Awe
Samsung has a music service. It’s called Milk. They brought in some heavy hitters — especially heavy in combination — to assert this, via venturebeat.com:
While the majority of people may be happy with the plethora of options available when it comes to streaming music, Samsung would like to remind you about its own service, Milk Music.
Case in point, Samsung is debuting a new TV commercial today to help promote Milk. And as you can see from the video embedded below, it contains a handful of popular music artists performing their songs, including Childish Gambino (a.k.a. Donald Glover) in his underwear, Chromeo, John Legend, Iggy Azalea, Cold War Kids, Lady Antebellum, and Little Dragon. The commercial itself probably cost a boatload of money to produce, as is customary for Samsung.
